In this May 11, 2022 letter to President Biden, the Border Trade Alliance expresses its growing concern over the migration situation at the United States-Mexico border. The membership of the BTA includes U.S. municipalities on the border, as well as private sector firms for whom a well-functioning, efficient, and secure border is essential to their livelihoods.

Border communities – elected leaders, social service providers, and citizens – pay the price for a mismanaged border. No city or county can properly deliver regular core governmental services like public safety, public transportation, and sanitation, while also managing a challenge as complex, wide-reaching, and resource intensive as undocumented immigration.

The BTA reiterates in the letter its position that migration is and must remain a federal issue, but a perceived failure to act by the federal government prompts attempts by some elected officials to respond on their own terms.